Mr Wong, CBD

My other posts are superrr late so I thought I might as well do this one first hahaha. A few days ago, I caught up with a friend I hadn't seen in a year and she wanted to try out Mr Wong (3 Bridge St, Sydney) for lunch and so after a bit of getting lost (LOL) we finally made it here from Wynyard station! It wasn't very far at all, we were just lost hahaha. Service is quick and helpful but they're very busy so it's a bit hard to get their attention. I'm not very fond of these restaurants that have such low lighting that it feels like I'm gonna fall asleep any minute though loll.

This was from their CNY menu and I can't exactly remember what it was but it's basically a dumpling ($15 D:) with mashed prawn, potato(?) and maybe lotus root inside covered by a spirally layer bread crumb texture outside. The top is coated with some caviar and gold leaf I presume.

IMO, since I'm cheap (LOL) $15 for a dumpling is a difficult thing for me to ever think is worth it so take that into consideration when I state my tastes haha. But, personally, I wasn't very fond of the outside layer, quite crumbly and bread-ish. I guess I'm just not a big fan of a lot of stuff mashed together inside a dumpling. It wasn't bad though.

BBQ Pork Rice Roll ($13)

Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed this one! The highlight is most definitely the chewy but extremely soft texture of the rice roll. I hate it when the rice roll breaks so this was really good! Kinda regretting the BBQ pork choice though because prawns would've tasted much better haha. Sauce could've been more sweeter imo since it's a rather normal salty soy sauce.

  

Sweet and Sour Crispy Pork Hock ($29)

  

My friend saw a lot of photos of this online and so we asked the waitress what it was and she told us it was pork hock! I was surprised! I wasn't expecting much even though the photos looked good but I loved the texture of this one too! It was so crispy but also soft and crunchy drenched generously with a sweet and sour sauce. The only negative would be that it was more sour than sweet but definitely pretty good.

Wild Mushroom Dumplings ($12) 

I don't have much to say about these ones since I wasn't that fond of them haha. They don't taste anything special haha but it was very soft and neatly melted in my mouth hahaha.

Scallop and Prawn Shumai ($12) 

My usual favourite for any yumcha would be dim sim and so this was a must! Sadly, I didn't think this was anything special either, the texture of the meat was probably too mashed up for me to really taste the goodness of the dim sim that I love.

Overall, I'd say that the dumplings are rather average from my experience and so from what I tasted from the pork hock, the highlight of Mr Wong may lie in their food dishes instead because dangg the textures of these foods are so good. Not sure about their choices of sauce blends (or it's catered for the Western tongue, who knows~) but I think this place is worth a try if you're eager. Dinner or a big lunch might be the more wise choice though.

Social Hideout Cafe, Parramatta

I've been wanting to try out more cafes in Parramatta since I live so close to there and should explore it a bit more hahaha, thus I ventured to Social Hideout (2a/20 Victoria Road, Parramatta). It wasn't very far away from the station but probably around a 15 minute walk since it's sort of close to the Riverside Theatre. Luckily, there was no line when we arrived around 12pm on a weekday. Service was quite quick but I'm not very fond of their table sitting arrangements haha.

The Hayne Plane ($21.50)

Poached eggs, avocado, baby spinach, thyme mushrooms, smoked tomato, turkey, smoked salmon, sourdough

Looks pretty good aye! My brother said it was pretty okay, not bad. Fresh and nice~

Wagyu Burger ($18.90)

Wagyu beef, onion jam, aioli, tomato, American cheese, crunchy chips, Japanese milk bun

On the other hand, my sister was rather disappointed with her burger since it tasted rather average and her crunchy chips weren't crunchy at all haha. The milk bun was soft but nothing special either.

Social Hideout Breakfast ($19.90)

Poached eggs, bacon, sausage, hash, thyme mushrooms, roasted tomato, sourdough

After this platter, I realised that I really don't like poached eggs or I especially did not like these ones because that egg yolk was soo runny, it was like water leaking and I could not like it. Bacon and hash browns were really crisp and nice and the tomato wasn't too soggy (yay!). Mushrooms were all right but the bread was dangg hard, I gave up on it hahaha. But the worst were those sausages! It tastes just like those cheap 10 or 20 in a pack sausages that are a bargain but taste like fake sour meat and I was so disappointed in it considering a big breakfast these days is $20 and I cant' even get a decent sausage, sigh.

Overall, it was nice to go try it out but considering the distance from the station (I'm lazy) and the mostly average food, I think it's not somewhere I'd like to go back to, tbh.

The Charlim, Lidcombe

Happy new year! First review of the year yee~ I actually came here a while ago but completely forgot to review it! Hahaha, I came here for dinner with my friends but they have said that the lunch menu at The Charlim (Lidcombe Centre, 92 Parramatta Road, Lidcombe) is cheap and great as well! 

There's no line here but it is quite lively and the service is quick and nice! It is also quite spacious and I love that vacuum thingo tube that comes from the ceiling to suck in all the Korean BBQ smoke! Makes my life much easier and doesn't make my hair smell so much like it either. To be fair, they're located in Lidcombe Centre though so they probably had to have that haha. Anywho, convenient place for lunch and some shopping for groceries!

BBQ Beef Set ($90)

I can't remember the price but seeing the menu online, it seems like it's this one. We shared this with four people altogether with another three side dishes and we were plenty full! The meat was nice, tender and fresh but since we were noobs at BBQing our own meat (other people always do it for us! HAHA) the waitress helped us out a lot by coming over every now and then to cook it for us lmao. That was really nice of her and we all got a good share of meat.

Seafood Shallot Pancake ($15)

Quite a normal pancake that I enjoyed but I think there was a lot of shallot and not quite as much seafood. There wasn't much taste to it either so I dipped it in some sauce too. I usually don't prefer to dip it in sauce so yeah haha.

Steamed Egg ($10)

This was really nice and fluffyy! Not as fluffy as the steamed egg my Dad makes (he is a chef as well after all~) but this was still pretty good. Nice, simple and yum.

Fried Dumplings ($10)

Out of all the dishes, I think I enjoyed this one the most, it was crunchy but filled with soft meat and tender meat juices. I happily indulged in it hahaha.

Our meal came with all this! Sauces and two big bowls of salad and veggies.

Look at all those veggies haha!

The only disappointing thing would have to be the side dishes. I wasn't much of a fan of the radish or cauliflower which were more on the sour side. Kimchi was sour and spicy as well. which I wasn't very fond of.

Overall, I think this is a nice place to enjoy some Korean BBQ and some dishes for quiet but still lively dinner or lunch, especially if there are things you would want to grab at Coles, Woolworths, Priceline, Target or Daiso Japan since they're all in this one place making it super convenient! I enjoyed dining in this place and the food was pretty good as well, I'd definitely want to try their lunch specials next time!